Trinidad and Tobago netballer Wallace, New South Wales Swifts part ways

MELBOURNE: Super Netball League outfit, New South Wales Swifts announced on Thursday that it has parted company with ace Trinidad & Tobago goal shooter Samantha Wallace-Joseph.

The club indicated in a statement that the separation was a result of the behaviour of Wallace-Joseph, 30, in the team environment, but they did not elaborate on the details of the off-court saga that had brought it to this decision.

“The NSW Swifts can confirm that the club has parted ways with Samantha Wallace-Joseph by mutual agreement,” the statement from the club indicated.

“For the past number of weeks, the club has been working with Samantha Wallace-Joseph and her management in relation to a matter, which concerned her behaviour within the team environment.”

The statement added: “For the well-being of all concerned, the nature of the matter will remain confidential. However, it has been mutually agreed that parting ways is the best way forward for both Samantha and the club.

“The behavioural standard expected of everyone in the Swifts environment – across players, coaches and staff – is team first, and there are no exceptions to that.”

Wallace-Joseph was palpably absent from the Swifts line-up for the second consecutive round of matches over the past weekend, and the Swifts had remained tight-lipped about their reason for dropping her from the side.

The Swifts were tied on 12 points with Sunshine Coast Lightning ahead of the two sides meeting last Saturday at the John Cain Arena in Sydney, but the absence of the scoring prowess of Wallace-Joseph appeared to be badly missed, and the visitors won 66-64.

Wallace-Joseph has been a beloved member of the Swifts since her signing seven years ago and helped the club win two SNL titles and won an internal vote to be named the Most Valuable Player of the club three times.

She only returned to action this season after recovering from a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament injury that put her on the side-lines for the past two seasons and also forced her to miss the World Cup last year.

“Wallace-Joseph played 84 games for the Swifts since joining in 2017 and won Premierships in 2019 and 2021,” the Swifts’ statement noted.

“The Swifts thank Samantha for her service to the club. The club will be making no further comment at this time.”

The Swifts said in a news release on Monday that the rift between them and Wallace-Joseph had nothing to do with her social media post earlier this year when she questioned an overlap between Easter Sunday and international transgender day of visibility.

Wallace-Joseph apologised and said she was taken out of context, and Proud2Play, an Australian organisation, whose purpose is to reduce social isolation, stigma, and discrimination of LGBTQI+ people through the power of sport and recreation, said the T&T goaler was part of their education session during Inclusion Round last month.

Inclusion Round, which took place during the fourth round of matches on May 4 and 5, is an initiative of the League to provide an opportunity to champion netball as a sport for everyone, with national inclusive causes being highlighted by all eight teams.

Each match shone a spotlight on the causes that aligned with the host clubs’ organisational and team values, and they collaborated closely with their opponents to ensure that they were also part of the journey to celebrate inclusion.

CMC